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OPINION - Reader Views - MINIMUM-WAGE DEBATE - Which means to an end?

October 28, 2004

This paper let down Florida's low-wage workers in editorializing against Amendment 5, which would raise the minimum wage. Rather than consider the available research or the experience of the other 12 states that have already raised their minimum wage with positive results, the editors simple recycle the tired, unproven claims that minimum-wage increases hurt workers.

Congress and the statehouse have stood by for seven years and done nothing for minimum-wage workers as inflation has risen and more people are finding employment in low-wage service jobs. Rather than object to that sad fact, the Sentinel instead objects to the mechanism by which citizens are now calling for a raise. Fortunately, nearly a million Florida voters agreed that poverty pay is an issue that demands immediate action -- not hand-wringing -- and sent Amendment 5 to the ballot with their signatures.

Every time a wage increase is proposed, opponents threaten job loss and inflation, though neither has resulted despite decades of state and federal increases. A study done specifically for Florida estimates that 850,000 workers will benefit from Amendment 5, local businesses will see a 3 percent increase in sales and any price increases will be so small as to go unnoticed.

The Sentinel suggests that the people should "leave this issue to Congress." That's easy to say when you're not working for the minimum wage. Congress has not acted to raise wages since 1997. The time for waiting is over.